FILE PHOTO - Owners of the Kelowna Hells Angels clubhouse, and two others in BC, are appealing a BC Court of Appeal ruling with Canada's highest court.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED

The owners of three Hells Angels clubhouses in BC, including one in Kelowna, are appealing to Canada's highest court to have the properties returned to them.

All three properties were turned over to the Director of Civil Forfeiture in February, which was the latest court decision in a decade-long battle to seize the homes from the criminal organization.

Kelowna's Ellis Street clubhouse is one of three the province won in the February decision from BC's highest court and police scoured the home just last week.

On Monday, April 17, lawyers for the property owners applied to have their appeal heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.

READ MORE: Hells Angels clubhouse in Kelowna seized by B.C. government

The Supreme Court will eventually decide whether it will hear the case or not, but it may put the province's attempts to seize the properties on hold.

Police were at the 871 Ellis Street clubhouse last week while the Civil Forfeiture Office "processed" the property it seized. Kelowna RCMP and Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit officers were there to secure the scene on April 14.

A spokesperson for the Civil Forfeiture Office was not immediately available to comment.

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A BC Supreme Court decision originally ruled against the seizures in 2020. After a June trial to appeal that decision, the province seized the East End clubhouse in Vancouver and two others in Nanaimo and Kelowna.

Hells Angels clubhouses are used to host weekly chapter meetings where members will decide who can join them, with strict rules against "snitches, junkies, cops or ex-cops," according to the February Court of Appeal decision.

The court didn't hear any direct evidence that members conspired to commit criminal activity at the Kelowna clubhouse, but there was evidence of drug trafficking at the Vancouver clubhouse. The appeal decision found it reasonable to suggest the Kelowna and Nanaimo clubhouses gave a "safe space" to conspire about future criminal activity.

Clubhouses also have security measures to prevent police from forced entry and surveillance, ensuring secrecy around their weekly meetings, according to the decision.

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It didn't say who owns the Kelowna clubhouse, but the decision did say it's registered in the name of a current and a former member.

The BC Court of Appeal decision appeared to put an end to the province's attempts to seize the 871 Ellis Street clubhouse, which began in 2012. If the Supreme Court of Appeal dismisses the latest appeal, it will bring those efforts to a close and finally turn the three clubhouses over to the province.

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